The Charge

An immortal battle for supremacy.

Opening Statement

Underworld is a film that had presumably low expectations coming into
its release, with a budget barely over $20 million and shot mainly in the former
Eastern Communist bloc. Upon its release, it made a worldwide gross near the
vaunted $100 million mark and gave the world a sequel, which meant more of its
star Kate Beckinsdale (Vacancy), which
almost every testosterone hosting male was glad to see. So how does the first
Underworld film stack up on the Blu-ray format?

Facts of the Case

From a screenplay by Danny McBride (his screenplay debut) and directed by Len
Wiseman (Live Free or Die Hard), the
film is a look at a centuries-old battle between werewolves (referenced in this
film as Lycans) and vampires, helped in part because Lucian (Michael Sheen, The Queen), a charismatic Lycan leader,
inspired the others to break their indentured servitude to the vampires. Selene
(Beckinsdale) is a vampire who hunts down werewolves to prevent any threat to
the vamps, however when she sees a human named Michael (Scott Speedman,
Felicity) being chased by the werewolves, the stakes for Michael's safety
are raised when his role in the war is far more than they both anticipated.

The Evidence

I'm not a real big fan of supernatural films by preference. I respect and
admire well-written pieces with vampires, werewolves, yetis, whatever, but I
don't actively seek them out. I equate all that stuff to those who like or claim
to be wiccans or witches. On a quick tangent, why do a lot of witches seem to
walk with a cane or are living on some form of government cheese? Oh well, but
past that, there really isn't a lot in Underworld that delights the eyes
or stimulates that soft tissue mass between the ears.

For starters, and I'm sure without the added 15 minutes of material, this
film could have been better served by shaving 20-30 minutes off. Wiseman has
made a bloated, slow moving and otherwise pretentious film about the
supernatural, using a lot of Kate Beckinsdale in leather outfits, or Kate
Beckinsdale with small arms, or Kate Beckinsdale with wire work. Combine that
with a story about a vampire coven leader double crossing a long-revered vamp
elder (played by Bill Nighy, Hot Fuzz),
everything is a confusing mess. Speedman did a great job in Felicity but
all of his emotions are muted and not worth the point here. Beckinsdale does a
lot of unvampire-like things (like crying, for one), but can you imaging a
five-foot-eight woman who weighs 105 pounds soaking wet doing a Keanu Reeves
impression and kicking your ass? Well, aside from the large money amount to pay
someone to do it, it's not believable in real life, just as it's not believable
here.

Technically, the 2.35:1 widescreen presentation using the AVC MPEG-4 codec
looks good, considering that the film was color corrected for its intended look.
Blacks look good and provide an excellent contrast, however because the film is
on an extended cut, it appears that without having seen either cut before this
review, I could point out what is work print footage and what is final product.
The detail through the film is inconsistent, which was a letdown. At least the
PCM soundtrack is the bee's knees. It's kind of a shame as there just aren't
enough shootouts in this thing, as they sound fantastic (shell casings dropping
all around in the rear channels from the jump). Dialogue comes off as muted
every so often, but overall it's a forgivable sin.

Bonus wise, there's enough red meat to make the average lycan go crazy, not
to mention almost all of the material comes from the two disc extended cut that
was released in 2004. First up is a commentary with Wiseman, Speedman and
Beckinsdale. The commentary is a lot of teasing and joking, which is fine, in
fact, seems to be better than the feature itself, but I digress. Speedman seems
to bear the brunt of the teasing, especially when husband and wife aren't
playfully sniping at one another. Speedman apparently was caught "falling
asleep" during the film's premiere and was constantly reminded about it,
but I can't say I blame him. The track was recorded in two phases (Speedman left
after an hour for an audition), but overall there's not too much information to
be gained, though the dynamic between the triad makes it easy to see why they
all came back for a sequel.

Moving onto the series of featurettes, which when played together, last as
long as the film itself. The 47-minute "Fang vs. Fiction" piece covers
the real-life and Hollywood looks at werewolves and vampires. It discusses
whether these things exist in the first place, along with a detailed historical
look at them. The science vs. faith aspects are covered, and those who claim to
be members of either are given some interview time as well. This apparent TV
special is very well detailed and worth checking out about for more on the
mythology or otherwise. The making of look at the film (13 minutes) kicks things
off, starting with the requisite cast and crew thoughts on the material and each
other, along with some time on the special effects of the film. Speaking of
effects, the visual effects get their own ten minute examination next. The
computer generated artists discuss what they did to make things look creepier
and crawlier. In an odd, choice, there's also a look at the process of editing
and the editing challenges in the film here as well. The creature effects are
given their own look, and the creation of the wolves and vamps gets a look. All
of these, by the way, include Wiseman's thoughts on how he wanted things to
look, along with his thoughts on the coordinators of each department. Stunts are
next, as the actors are shown being put through their paces for rehearsals,
fight sequences and other fun things. A look at the design of the film
(production, location and costume) is next, running a little over 10 minutes in
length, and then the look/style of the film is next. Covering storyboards,
cinematography and other material, it's actually quite informative at almost
twenty minutes in length. A piece titled "Sights and Sounds" is the
last piece, however it's nothing more than footage on the film without
narration. A pretty boring three-minute long outtake reel follows, along with an
equally boring music video and a storyboard comparison on some scenes complete
the disc. Overall the amount of extras is great, however the more involved you
get in them, the more redundant they start becoming.

The Rebuttal Witnesses

Like I said before, this film has not only spawned a sequel, but another film
is supposedly on the way. So there is a rabid audience (pun intended) that
either goes to the films or buys the numerous DVDs on the market, and bully to
them. Plus Wiseman must have her drugged or something, because he goes home to
Beckinsdale every night, so go figure.

Closing Statement

I've been handed a rare challenge when it comes to handling this version of
Underworld, the third such related review on this disc here at DVD
Verdict. It's not that it's a matter of finding something new to say about this
flick, because we're a wide and varied bunch here. It's that this movie is
geared to be loud and sound good on a home theater system, and is loaded with
extras, so it's a damn good disc overall. But the film is such a bloated, slow
pretentious turd that I really didn't enjoy myself at all, despite all the other
stuff. Walk on by this (insert bodily fluid name here) sucker.

The Verdict

Guilty as charged, the court is employing as many silver bullets, crucifixes
and garlic as possible to clean the stench out of the chambers.